"Why not?" he asked with a smile.
"Want of sufficient attraction. You know, we are apt to think here that Englishmen, if they are well placed in their own country, do not want anything of other countries. They are on the very height of civilization, and of everything else. They have enough. And certainly, America cannot offer them much."
"America is a large field for work,"—Mr. Southwode observed.
"Ah yes; but what country is not? I dare say you find enough to do on the other side. Do you not?"
"I have no difficulty on that score," Mr. Southwode confessed; "on either side of the Atlantic."
"We were very glad to hear of the successful termination of your lawsuit," Mrs. Busby went on. "I may congratulate you, may I not? I know you do not set an over value on the goods of fortune; but at the same time, it always seems to me that the possessor of great means has a great advantage. It is true, wealth is a flood in which many people's heads and hearts are submerged; but that would never be your case, I judge."
"I would rather be drowned in some other medium," he allowed.
"Well, we heard right? The decisions were in your favour, and triumphantly?"
"They were in my favour, and unconditionally. I did not feel that there was much to triumph about, or can be, in a family lawsuit."
"No; they are very sad things. I am very glad you are out of them, and so well out of them."